 |
 |
| |
General view of the stadium of Luton Town during their match against Liverpool in January 2008. English League Two club Luton will start the new season on minus 30 points after the Football Association rejected an appeal against the punishment. |
|
LONDON (AFP) - English League Two club Luton will start the new season on minus 30 points after the Football Association rejected an appeal against the punishment on Tuesday.
The Hatters were docked 10 points by the FA for breaching regulations over payments to agents. The Football League then handed down a 20-point deduction after Luton exited administration without agreeing a Company Voluntary Agreement.
Luton wanted the FA to drop their penalty, but a hearing in London refused to overturn the decision despite several former FA heavyweights such as chief executive David Davies writing in on their behalf pleading that they not be so heavily punished.
An FA statement said: "The deduction of 10 points was a heavy sanction, as it was intended to be, but was not excessive as a reflection of the seriousness of the breaches and the need to deter such conduct within football clubs."
|
Discuss- Add comment
BesTalentScout July 15th, 2008 17:16
they should save time by asking the FA to let them play in the conference this season.........LOLCrusader1987 July 15th, 2008 17:43
-30 points!? They may not even get to positive points before the season is over! Yeah, they're definitely going to be relegated.Tontodonati July 15th, 2008 21:30
I would seem to me that the penalty far exceeds the crime. We're not talking about game-fixing here but a procedural infringment. The FA would have shown more insight by making some profit out of it by opting for a monetary penalty (10 Millions?) rather than deducting points.phughes699 July 16th, 2008 13:18
The FA want their heads banging together, making a decision like this. What is the point of deducting 30 points from a little club like this. Come on give them a chance. They are a laughing stock and should reverse the decision they made for the sake of English football, otherwise it will be a waste of time Luton Town competing this season and all interest will be lost. If the FA used their common sense and gave them a fine, that would have been much better. What a sad state of affairs. These men who make the decisions seem to live on another planet.indsc4 July 16th, 2008 19:59
Luton has already been fined 50000 pounds by the FA, and it owes another half million pounds to creditors. Luton's previous management was absolutely terrible, and now the club has to suffer because of a bunch of buffoons. Any more fines by the FA, and Luton Town doesn't exist any more (remember Gretna in Scotland). By all means, the 10 points from illegal handling of payments from the FA is warranted. However, 20 points for exiting administration without a CVA? Are the creditors that powerful? Luton's penalty should be 20 points total, 10 from the FA, and 10 from the League for admin (standard penalty, it seems like). Though Luton has been a wreck off the pitch (and recently on), the players will have little motivation to keep going because of that excessive penalty.